Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-05
THE OLDEST PRISTER LIVING.
A Scotch TYPO, SIN hale and n Possession
OF His Faculties at Ninety. Five

A Scotch TYPO, SIN Hale and IN Posses ST on
OF His Faculties at Ninety. Five.
The oldest living printer and newspa-
; per writer in the United States, il not in
the world, is now residing st Healdsburg,
Sonoms county, Cal, and although the
years of his lie nearly span century, 3
naturally sound constitution, aided hg
the sttenuonS Of his fenily, Did fair to
allow him to remain several years longer
| on this mundane sphere, says the San
| Francisco Chronicle. WIIiem ICDiarmtt
wss oorn az Edinburgh, On November
! i, 1872, aGd bScame al orphan st
| the early age of i've yesrs. lie vas taken
! in charge by his grandfather, Malcolm
| MCDiarmj1, % the age OF fourteen, WHO
J apprenticeG him to Murray { COChrane, O
/ printing arm Of 'mourgh, the excellence
/ Of whose work had won Tor It natjonsi
reputation. IL the ialI OF 1919 McDiaIm.d
/ received 8 satisfactory Off from John
I i5allan+yue, the famous cook publisher of
/ Edinburgh, snj g. once beGaL tee cOmp0-
sItiOn of Sir Waiter Scott : move. "Wav-
eriey" second edition Of that work hav-
/ irg been ordered by the renowned Scot
/ tish poet. During the progress OF this
sNd other work, nuch OF which wGs n
charge Of AlcDiarmid, the snCP WaS Wis
TED by Sir Waiter Scott almost daily
! "DuriDg these visits, on which OCCASIONS
he revised che proOf-Sheets, =" said MI Nc
/ Diarmid, 81 found MIN 70 be sH excel
/ lent companion. Unfortunately for him,
/ his chiro2rsphy was CXecra5le and 1t
! cessitated MS constant presence u Bal
lantyGe's sn0p to assist the printers iu
deciphering the hieroglyphlcs, some Of
he r1-..
: Sometimes whole paragraphs had TO be
killed because Of his inability 20 make ont
the Ch3rsCters. On these occasions ia
stead Of sAOwing anger he would make
the necessary alterations with g display
OF crbanity Of temperament that wss re
mel aa1le He used 10 visit Us SO often
that whenever ae came we sill yelled out
Here's W&l!y aSainn He al&ays trested
me cOurteously, and, having confidence
in my 20. kmanshp, often intrustad me
with advance manuscripts, the pu9lcs-
ton Of which have since startled and graf
flied the literary world
10 addition 10 his duties as i compos
/ itor, McDiarmid frequently acted in 4 1e
/ portoTisl capacity on the k-lso Mail,
jurGaI then published by Bausntyue
, GA the night Of June 5, 1873, the day O
the Office Of the Mail, snxiOusly awaitin!
information from the seat of war. tn
people of Edinburgh turned out en- mass
e 10 hear the news, but none came unit
= thee days later, @hen the announcement
p that the battle WIS being fought We
made. It was the pride Of MCDisrmi
some days later, to intercept the advanc
C0urIers and announce WelingtOu's vic
y 4Gry tIrnu1- in front .f al
tyne's office.
In 1917 MCDiarmid espoused Mis-
Catherine Whitehead, the eighteen-yeai
old daughter Of wei kuo@n and res
T. pected merchant of Edn5urg. Eleve
children were the fruits e the union
taIee CT whom suryive-Mrs Jane Wa
son, now living at Sterling, Na0., Mr..
Aau Brown, end Mrs. Carrie CulIou
BOTH residing 81 Healdsburgh Th
couple lived happy and Harmonious If
together until }s42, when Mrs. Nc
Diarmid fell victim to CHOLERA durin
the epidemic of that year in Cincinnati
Upon the death Of BsI!antyne, il -
!. certain changes in that cfH;e being cls
tasteful to McDjarmid, he went 10 Lon
don, where for ten years ne was en-
o ployed as q cOmpositor on the Times.
:, Ia 1856 McDiarmid emigrsted to Ne
- York, where for one year be worked O.
= COmpositOT on the Tribune. He the
q went to Cincinnati, where ne pursued h
e occupation on various papers uutIl 1874,
:, when he joined the OHIO PaslsEX,
e society OF nearly 200 people banded &c
Y getEer on the Fourier principle, an
e living as ore family. The party pro
g ceedsd to Wheeling, ". Va, where t
It new system Of family colonization,
It accordance with MCDiarmid's views, WI
d inauguarated.
d Returning to Cincinnati In 1870, ne
j once secured 8 position on the Times,
It connection thst lasted for tweuty-tV
- years. In 1879 he instituted : chapel
2. the Times Ctlice, q system OF local 60
eTnment known only TO printers.
From 1863 10 1878, when he came
California, McDisrmid was cOnnectt
g, witl the Trade List and Saturday Nigh
: two Cincinnati papers of high repute.
J" also worked Oh the Enquirer ana GaZstt
& and in the early seventies put in son
u time on Indianapolis papers. Owing
OF the weight Of years, however, ne W
ne compelled, upon reaching Healdsburg,
2, lay aside his "stick," which had been
IN inseparabIe companion for years,
rs Until year ago his leisure hours We
spent in writing for h5s~oWR amuseme
uaon his fdvOrite toRics,,s
81 ,ezzzzss
No ~ one 1ss1 fsge Carriers Little T,;v